A Sad Case (Behind the Scenes)

[Cybermancer]

With Cybermancer's post today over at the Lazlo Society, the initial plot arc for A Sad Case is over.

The story came about as a combination of factors, the first being a request from GamerZombie that I make for him a villian that could be both foil and nemesis for his character, Slayer. Somebody who could not easily be defeated by conventional means but could, in the end, be defeated. This worked well as I was preparing to move along the Minion War plot arc by adding a demon antagonist.

For those who may have missed the literary connection, both the story line and the villian are heavily influenced by der Sandman by E.T.A. Hoffman. It's old enough that it's public domain now and it's got some brilliant stuff that can be used in BtS. Even the name that Cyber uses for the little girl, Clara, is taken from the story (ICly, he has kept her real name a secret).

I'm revealing the behind the scenes information here so that GM's can borrow or steal any elements that they like for their own games at their own tables. I'm also making it available for use by others at the Lazlo Society. I've already discussed this in great detail with Dr. Boggs' player and he'll be taking an interesting element of the whole situation and running with it. I'm not going to reveal what he's up to but I know I'm looking forward to seeing it get posted. And of course Slayer will doubtless be relentless in his pursuit of 'the one that got away'.

I'll have to break this up into a series of posts. So if you don't like spoilers, I wouldn't read any farther into this thread than this post.

[Cybermancer]

I'll start out with the villian.

Spoiler:

The name he'll become known as is Sandman. I considered giving him black wings and calling him Morpheus and I would encourage any GM wishing to use this to do so if they like it. The LS.org one doesn't have wings however. Mechanically, he's a maxed out Dream Seller demon from The Nightlands. He has one additional trick however. He has figured out a way to take control of a person's dream stream and graft it to others using the dreamers eyes. He does this to create a dream realm for himself using the abilities of others who he has enslaved.

First, he must make a physical connection with the victim. He prefers to target sensative and creative children as they're the most easily molded into the dream dancers he needs them to be. He'll invade their dream pools over the course of weeks before he starts to appear physically near the target. This will often lead to reports of 'Boogy men' as it will seem to the children that he is appearing out of their closets or from under their beds.

Once he is convinced that the target has all the qualities he is looking for, he will attack, snatching their eyes from their head and entering their dream pool. Once there, the eyes immediately go to the dream version of the dreamer. The first thing that Sandman does is open the dream portal from his realm to the dream pool he is invading. He will then ensure that the victim remains in a coma state while he brings in dream persona's and various allies through the portal to begin transforming the landscape to something more to his liking (Hades). Once the dreamscape is fully transformed and all native dream persona's converted to his ends, he will capture the dream persona of the dreamer and again pluck out their eyes. This time he holds onto them, giving him complete control over the dream pool. The ritual that he uses to subvert the dream pool requires it be done in this order and in this way.

Like all bullies, Sandman is something of a coward. For example, he recently took a tour of the dream pools of a number of Lazlo Society posters. He avoided psychic sensatives and even those with dream combat experience. He went after the dreams of those he had a good chance of subverting and controlling. Even then, he didn't take pains to make his presence known. Instead he used their dreams to gain information on the Lazlo Society. While there, he learned an old enemy was viewing the boards and sent a message to that enemy through the good Doctor Boggs.

Sandman will work through intermediaries whenever possible. And he has a few at his disposal. Including lesser demons, astral beings and dream stream creatures. Not to mention lesser entities. Finally there are human dupes, but we'll get to those later.

One thing you won't see, is Sandman posting to the boards. The one message he did send was just his way of tweaking the nose of an old advesary. It will still be a little while before his name is even revealed. Don't expect any team ups either. He doesn't work well or play nicely with others. Nor will he come under control of so called 'higher' forces. He is already under a special mandate from the powers of Hades. His full involvement with the minion war will only be revealed over time.

There are many ways that players can become involved in this ongoing plot.

Got Metagame?

Players so often hear a few clues and immediately assume they know what they're facing. Imagine when they set up an ambush expecting a simple boogey man only to find a full fledged demon has shown up for the party. And guess what! He's brought a keg of whup tooshie.

Clara's Replacement.

Sandman has been set back. He's going to be out looking for someone to replace Clara. Perhaps players happen on him as he's about to attack and child and scare him off. Powerful as he is, he is also a creature of shadows and illusions. He prefers not to engage except when he must. Are the players able to keep this child out of his clutches all together?

The Others.

There are many children up to adults who are under this fiends control. Only he's entrenched and now ready to protect his precious eyes. And going battle of liberation could be the basis of an entire campaign. Eventually though, he is going to go to a scorched earth policy where he kills the dreamer before he is evicted from their dreams. He's petty like that.

LS.Org.

For players at the Lazlo Society, if you want to use Sandman, just let me know and we'll discuss it. He should be used in creepy, horrific, insanity causing ways. Deception comes as easily to him as breathing does to us. Manipulation is as easy as blinking. The only real limitation is that GamerZombie/Slayer has 'dibs' for his ultimate defeat. Don't expect that to happen for a couple of years.

[Lord Z]

That is an interesting character (in the spoiler section). I like the fact that the loner personality is an in-game reason for the villian to not bleed into other storylines. Who was the old advisary being taunted?